Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 296: Motor vehicles; presentation of a driver's license in a certain electronic format; provisions
Last action July 1, 2025 · Effective Date
House Bill 296 requires Georgia voters, hunters, and anglers to show a physical driver's license rather than a phone version, while letting drivers show a digital license to police and creating a new tax payment option for certain rental and charter vehicles.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Georgia law did not clearly say whether a driver's license shown on a phone counted as valid identification in different settings. This bill draws that line. For voting at the polls, buying a hunting or fishing license, and proving residency for a lifetime sportsman's license, the bill requires a physical driver's license; an electronic version on a phone will not satisfy those requirements. For everyday possession of a license while driving, the bill goes the other way: showing an electronic license on a phone satisfies the requirement to carry a license, as long as law enforcement has equipment to verify it. Officers cannot force a driver to hand over their phone, and by July 1, 2027 all law enforcement agencies must acquire equipment able to check electronic licenses. Separately, the bill lets owners of certain heavily modified rental vehicles and for-hire charter buses pay their title ad valorem tax (the one-time tax paid when titling a vehicle) in two installments over 12 months instead of all at once.
What the bill does
- Requires voters to present a physical Georgia driver's license (not a phone version) as identification at polling places.
- Requires people buying a hunting, fishing, or trapping license, or applying for a lifetime sportsman's license, to show a physical driver's license.
- Allows drivers to show an electronic driver's license on a phone to satisfy the requirement to carry a license while driving, if police have the right verification equipment.
- Bars police from forcing a driver to hand over their phone to check an electronic license and protects against implied consent to a device search.
- Requires all Georgia law enforcement agencies to obtain equipment capable of verifying electronic driver's licenses by July 1, 2027.
- Creates a new option letting owners of specially modified rental vehicles and for-hire charter buses or motor coaches pay their title ad valorem tax in two installments over 12 months.
Who it affects
Georgia voters, hunters and anglers, people applying for lifetime sportsman's licenses, everyday drivers who use digital driver's licenses, law enforcement agencies that must buy new verification equipment, and businesses that own for-hire charter buses or heavily modified rental vehicles subject to the title ad valorem tax.
Why it matters
Georgians who rely on a phone-based digital license would still need a physical card to vote or buy a hunting or fishing license, but could use the digital version during a routine traffic stop without surrendering their phone. Vehicle rental and charter bus businesses would get more time to pay a tax bill.
Key provisions
- Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417 so poll workers must be shown a physical, not electronic, Georgia driver's license as identification.
- Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 27-2-2 to require a physical driver's license when purchasing a hunting, fishing, or trapping license from an agent.
- Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 27-2-3.1 to require a physical driver's license as proof of residency for a lifetime sportsman's license.
- Section 4 amends O.C.G.A. § 40-5-29 so an electronic driver's license satisfies the requirement to carry a license while driving if police have verification equipment, and bars officers from compelling surrender of a phone; officers must obtain verification equipment by July 1, 2027.
- Section 5 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-5C-1 to let owners of for-hire charter buses, motor coaches, or specially modified rental vehicles pay 50 percent of their title ad valorem tax at titling and the remaining 50 percent within 12 months.
From the bill
“By July 1, 2027, all law enforcement officers shall acquire equipment capable of verifying a license issued in an electronic format.”
“No person shall be compelled to release his or her wireless telecommunications device to a law enforcement officer pursuant to this Code section.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 256
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted As Amended (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
Show full history (20 actions)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Houston Gaines (R, HD-120)
- John Corbett (R, HD-174)
- Trey Kelley (R, HD-16)
- Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)
- Marcus Wiedower (R, HD-121)
- Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)
- Randy Robertson (R, SD-29)
Votes
- House voteMarch 3, 2025
154 yea, 17 nay (6 not voting, 3 excused)
- Senate voteApril 4, 2025
51 yea, 2 nay (2 not voting, 1 excused)
- Senate voteApril 4, 2025
13 yea, 39 nay (3 not voting, 1 excused)
- Senate voteApril 4, 2025
51 yea, 3 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)
- House voteApril 4, 2025
163 yea, 3 nay (2 not voting, 12 excused)
Topics
- voter ID
- driver's licenses
- hunting and fishing licenses
- vehicle taxes
- law enforcement technology